Om Sri Ganeshaya Namah!
Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya!
Om Namo Bhagavate Chidanandaya!
Om Namo Bhagavate Krishnanandaya!

Namaste!

Affirm Truth Reject Untruth
by Sri Swami Chidananda

Beloved Immortal Selves!

Radiant Atman! This week we will observe the jayanti of Adi Sankaracharya, one of the greatest of Self-realised souls and philosophers this world of ours has produced. Leaving home, in a spirit of renunciation and aspiration to realise the Reality, at the tender age of eight years, he completed an unbelievable mission in the span of just a few years, passing away in his 32nd year. During that period he did what is known as digvijaya (conquest of the quarters), carrying the banner of Advaita Vedanta, the supreme philosophy of absolute monism, into the four corners of India and overcoming all lesser schools of philosophy through his convincing, irrefutable arguments. His incredible work remains dynamically living, active and ever progressive even to this day, more than 1200 years after he propounded his doctrine.

The quintessence of Advaita Vedanta is to affirm the truth and reality of your essential, eternal, divine identity and to resolutely reject the error of thinking of yourself as a finite human creature having a name and form, beginning and end, and subject to changes such as birth, death, old age, disease, decay, pain, sorrow, suffering, etc. Resolutely rejecting this error and simultaneously affirming your eternal, unchangeable divine identity is the centre of Advaita Vedanta sadhana. They call it affirming and rejecting, pushtikarana and nirakarana—neti, neti.

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Today, May 1st, is the holy birthday of Sri Adi-Sankaracharya; and Sri Ramanujacharya. Sri Swami Sivanandaji has written about these great exponents of Vedanta in his book Lives of Saints. You may read the full biographies at:

1. Sri Adi-Sankaracharya
2. Sri Ramanujacharya

Yours in the service of Gurudev,

Pannirselvam

THE MASTER ON HIMSELF: The Master was referring once to his daily routine and exercise, and said, “Even though my asceticism has shattered my constitution and brought heavy reaction upon me, yet I have not allowed my body to go down under the onslaught. It is my exercise that has sustained me. Even now I do them regularly without missing a single day. I do not allow the reaction to overpower me. Though I sometimes feel my head reel when I rise to my feet, yet I master it, run up the hill, perform my Sirshasana, and run to work again. As soon as I stand up for any activity I feel a sudden access of power surging into me. God alone knows where it comes from. I then deliver myself spontaneously and forcefully. I burst all bounds and thunder forth in my speech, and only stop when I feel exhausted. I can’t be interrupted in the middle. I myself am quite surprised as to how I can do it. While at times I am too weak to stand, the instant I get up, full vigour rushes into me. God alone knows whence the power gushes forth. The energy is not mine. I feel I am an instrument only. But this I know--that it is the systematic exercise that I do that keeps the physical instrument in a fit state to be a channel of such sudden inflow of this energy.”

The next instant, pointing to the huge overcoat that muffled up his substantial girth, the Master said with a chuckle, “I doubtless appear like a fashionable toff in this attire! But then, I do not care what the world says about me. All these things become necessary if you are to preserve the body in good condition to further the good work that is being done through it. Whatever you have you must give to the world or else life isn’t worth the name. To do this you have to keep both the physical and mental ability intact. I will only invite lumbago if I expose my back to the chill at this period of my life. When racked by pain in the back, of what use can one be either to oneself or to the world. The only gainer will be the patent medicine manufacturer!

“Don’t you see, I can’t keep anything for myself even for a moment. Any new thing that I learn, then and there I proclaim to humanity. I can lose no time in benefiting others even in the least detail. So I have to be ever on the run. There is no resting on my oars for me. When such is my maxim--to be doing something for common weal each moment of this earthly life--how can I afford to jeopardise the condition of the vehicle in the form of some prehistoric asceticism and mortification? You can keep yourself in a fit condition for service only by avoiding extremes, while at the same time making an earnest endeavour to steer clear away from all luxury and indulgence.”

"Prophets are born from time to time to remove a catastrophe and establish Dharma (righteousness). They preach according to the time, place, conditions and requirements. Lord Buddha preach, "Don't kill". Guru Govind Singh preached, "Kill". When Buddha was born, people were sacrificing many animals. He had to preach Ahimsa (non-violence) to stop killing. Guru Govind Singh had to infuse chivalry in man. One prophet preached, "Renounce and go to the forest". Sri Ramanuja preached, "Enjoy at home. Have no attachment. Worship Vishnu". The teachings are not contradictory in reality. They are needed to suit the occasion, time and nature of men." - Swami Sivananda

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